6 Tips to Avoid Burnout

As many of us know, this is a highly intense “people”
industry. What I mean by that is that not only do we need people but we SERVE
people. The connotations are endless.

Like Pastors, psychologists, listening partners, etc… our
roll often times reflects or mimics that of the afore mentioned. In our world,
we have the added stresses today of the internet, social media and technology.
In our professional lives working in restoration, we have the added stressors
of being a 24/7/365 Emergency response company and our “partners” – 3rd
party vendors and carriers – where people are being pressed (and therefore
pressing) for hitting the numbers and meeting the standards “now” (and apparently
“algorithms rule”).

I consistently see that many in our industry do not know how
to handle this, or have not been trained to handle this and therefore may not
be equipped to know when burn out is upon them.

Therefore my thoughts on this go towards several key points
that I will address from an owners perspective (but the argument could be made
that some/many would also apply to the front line company Mangers as well):

I consistently see the lack of:

Vision – have a clear vision of what you want. I
recently ran into Jarett Dixon from Master Restoration (https://www.masterrestorationservices.com/
)in Pinellas County Florida. Their company credo is: We put people before
Profit” – WOW! That is powerful. Jarrett has a STRONG Vision for his company
and himself. He truly wants to make a difference. He and his Company “know
their ‘WHY’ – they realize that this is a people business and not only put
their people first but also the people that they work for first.

Decide on what the business does or does not do
– although this can be part of the Vision, I separate this. Many companies want
to be everything to everyone (TRUE people pleasers). From a pure business
perspective, this is tough to do and generally requires more people, time and
money. So, decisions should be made early on about what a company will take for
business, what they will not take for business and they should have a clear
idea about what kind of work they should “walk away” from. Bad work creates
stress and stress creates burn out. You have to decide early on to say “no” to
a bad job (I am pretty sure that most everyone in the restoration business
knows what a “bad job” looks like. I can make the argument that not taking a
$100K loss that is “bad work” is actually saving you time, money, energy and
effort AND you will have less stress.

Hiring right – Spend time on reviewing and
following a “hiring process”. Decide who from the company is involved. I work
with many companies that have 2 – 3 people in on the first and final interviews
and for many candidates, they are going through 3 – 4 interviews during their
process overall. This may sound like it takes forever but it is a quick turnaround
process. The KEYS are to know what you are looking for and to have more than
one person doing the interview process. What you are looking for is great
attitudes, solid aptitudes and appearance (meaning are they clean cut and are a
“people person”).

Correct staffing – some people are focused on
“right sizing” and although I won’t argue that point, I will state that correct
sizing is based upon knowing your numbers. Do you have solid Data (most
companies do not). Do you know who the next position(s) are at the correct
dollar volume? Are you thinking 6 days or 6 months (6 years?) down the road?
When having the Vision, Hiring and correct staffing come together, it is a
stress reducer.

Training – many times, I come across companies
that have little to no training inside their company. Each position should have
a consistent training program laid out that includes an orientation,
discussions about Company Culture, what you do, how you do it, how you treat
people, what are your Systems, Sop’s, extensive training in your software
programs, etc. The more you invest in
training the right people, the LESS stress (burn out) happens.

Technology – for a long time I have professed
People, Process and Technology. We all agree that generally speaking,
technology is racing ahead – fast! However, when you have a good IT partner and
have people who are on top of the current trends and making recommendations
about how to streamline, that can be a stress reliever in and of itself. In today’s restoration world, all Lead Technicians
and Key Construction Personnel should have Smart Pad and Smart Phone technology
tied into the job management system and thereby back to the office (this may
sound like a given to many but there are still some that are not close to doing
this). The dividends in more productive time, more efficiency and more
effectiveness will increase the bottom line results (and who amongst us will
argue that bottom line results are not a stress reducer).

Bonus … J

Time away – many (most) owners struggle with this. Why?
Because they are either a “people – person”, wanting to help people and they
struggle to let go OR they have not hired the right KEY people (see above) and
are not able to go because “no one else can do it”. I recently had a
conversation with someone who has not had a vacation in 7 years “because no one
else could do it”. Yes, you have to hire and train some key people. However, I
believe that you also have to calendar your time and set clear boundaries for
getting away. An owner should be getting
away at LEAST 4 times a year, some getaways can be as short as a 4 day weekend
(think creatively around the holidays). But the owners and managers should be
taking two (2) one week vacations away at least twice a year.

Marty Jocz has been in the Restoration Industry for over 23
years. He has been a Consultant, Business Coach and Mentor to Restoration
Companies for over 14 years. He works in the areas of accountability, Sales,
Leadership and Management training. Marty offers a free consult on how to help
your company become more focused and dialed in. He can be reached at: